Above: At speeds close to 100 miles per hour,
John Lewis in Vulture corners inside Bob Saniga during the Yarrawonga 600

Above: Power Boat & Yachting Feb 1971 front
cover

In a dramatic finish
to time Yarrawonga 600 the hydro, Stampede, triumphed in a clash of
the giants with a win of less than two seconds over Vulture, the fastest
displacement racing boat in Australia.

Report
by Graeme Andrews

In a dramatic finish to time Yarrawonga
600 the hydro, Stampede, triumphed in a clash of the giants with a win
of less than two seconds over Vulture, the fastest displacement racing
boat in Australia.
Report by Graeme Andrews.

Fighting out every inch of the two 25-mile, six lap heats, Stampede
with her size and brute force was hard put to subdue the driving
skill and incredible handling of the team of John Lewis and Vulture.
Making
use of every corner of the triangular course to bold off the bellowing
giant, Lewis proved that he will be, if he isn’t already, one
of the greats of Australian speed boating. Stampede, driven in Heat
One by Bob Saniga and in Heat Two by Stan Jones, had to pick up and
then wash off her tremendous speed as the three turn course gave
the advantage to the smaller Vulture.

At flag drop, Peter Wade’s Redline leapt out and took an early
lead as the rest of the field bunched up. Close behind were Spencer
Miller in Jawar (ex-JAG), Stampede, Debbie Too. Vulture, Jo Blo, Discounter,
Pickle Fork and Chevvy. Coming out of the turn as the crowd heaved
and pushed itself closer to the action, it was all Redline with Vulture
right on her hammer. People started to slide into the water and some
stayed there as the excitement mounted. With Bob Saniga fighting to
wrestle the giant hydro around the 20 turns of the course, the cards
were in Lewis’ favour If he could hold enough distance on the
straights. Redline dropped out with a broken oil line in lap three,
allowing Vulture to take the lead. With the front running to himself,
Lewis was able to take a close line on the corners forcing Saniga to
go even wider.

Coming out of the last turn dead level with Lewis, Saniga turned on
the power and the mighty Merlin responded to blast over the line less
than three seconds ahead of the howling Vulture. Miss Debbie come In
third 100 yard back. After the first heat Saniga was heard to say that
on a tight course like this it was impossible for him to take the big
boat much over 2500 rpm and even then it was a demanding business.

In heat two, owner Stan Jones took over the office and Lewis prepared
to do battle once more. Driving the same race in the same way, Lewis
concentrated on getting inside the bigger boat forcing Jones to go
wide. Vulture had a slight edge for most of the heat until Jones
gambling on the last turn, came well out on the swing and accelerated
diagonally
across the course and close into the judge’s box. Vulture took
the heat by less than one second with Debbie Too coming in 50 yards
back. A count-back of times gave the race to Stampede with Vulture
a razor-edged second from the consistent Debbie Too.

More than 600 people stood most of the day at Yarrawonga as a fast,
well paced and precision-timed programme showed that speed boating
has much to offer the paying crowd if it is presented well. Onlookers
came from as far as Tasmania and South Australia to watch local and
interstate boats compete for the cash prizes.

The Yarrawonga meeting proved that to attract the boats cash prizes
have to be offered. A similar type of meeting run by the Taree Aquatic
Club in N.S.W. every year has similar results. The $600 prize far the
big race attracted a field, of Griffith Cup Standard.
The programme got under way at 12.30 pm with the Motor Spares Open
Trophy for 95 ci boats. Defender, Ron Leaney in Meteor, had to compete
with Jack Brown’s funnel, Electa-Fried, Les Scott’s hydro,
Aquaholic, R. Richard’s outboard runabout, Jan-Rose, Tasmanian
Ben Albrick’s skiff Lightning (later to roll over and nearly
sink), Allan Eddington’s hydro, Havoc, Trevor Trebilco’s
hydro, Little E and hydro, Frantic Too, with Ron Haylock in the box
seat.

Above: Peter Wade's Redline tool an early
lead in the event until an oil line snapped after only two laps

Above: Spectators picked the darnest places
in their efforts to get nearer the action

Leaney leapt to the fore at flag drop
with Electra-Fired and Havoc holding on grimly. Jan-Rose, out-gunned on
the straights by the hydros and out-cornered on the buoys by the tunnels,
was managing to hold her own with some inspired driving. Meteor took the
money far the event with Electra-Fired leaving her run too late, taking
second place from Havoc.

The BP Trophy for $100 was the first or the big money events which
attracted faster fields. Seven boats blasted off with the big interest
centreing
In the long awaited re-match between Vulture and Jack Bullen’s
new Jo Blo fresh from her maiden voyage victories at PaynesvilIe a week
before. With the 350c1 Chev screaming, Vulture flew off at the flag drop
taking and holding an early lead. The opposition wasn’t in the
event.

Jo Blo, coughing and spluttering with fuel problems, was running sick.
Trevor Mathews’ fine skiff. Assassin Too, was running well, but
the 292 ci Chev was outgunned. Vulture, sitting flat and leaving almost
no rooster tail, widened her lead at every turn. On Lap Three, she half
spun and lost ground, but it was the last chance for the others to catch
up, Lloyd WIllian’s Hoots Mon, running steadily, was closing on
the leaders and passed Jo Blo on the last lap. Forging past Assassin
Too, she crossed the line second to the disappearing Vulture, with Assassin
Too taking third from Jo Blo. Bullen took Jo Blo back to the pits suffering
obvious problems and with little time to sort them out before the big
one.

Race Three for the Browning Brothers Trophy for 266 ci side valve
boats was combined with the 266 ci Scratch Race because of a lack of
entries.
Fred Stacey’s skiff, Shiraz took off the Browning section from
W. Cooper’s Misschif, while Vern Arnott’s championship holding
Arawa showed Bid Thorpe’s Kanga the way home in the scratch section.

The Frog Trophy 300 ci open event saw some fairly hairy performances.

Hoots Mon, making no mistakes after her earlier second place, took
the lead and kept It. G. Graham’s Debbie Too and Assassin Too had all
stops out, but couldn’t peg back the leader over the six laps.
Positions were unchanged at the line with Brian Gibbs of Sydney, coming
borne fourth in the twin-rigged tunnel, Pickle Fork.

The four-lap 155 ci Scratch Race attracted eight entries. Ian Harvey,
driving Screamin’ Eagle, found that things were not all his own
way, with Col Winton’s very quick McGee Falcon-engined Wild-One
looking the most dangerous. Winton, keeping the foot to the floor, was
hauling the skiff back on the straight bits, but Harvey wasn’t
having any trouble blowing him off round the buoys. Billy Guyatt, driving
clamp-on tunnel, Discounter, was taking It a bit easy into the head winds
and hung on long enough to come out with third place.

Meetings like Yarrawonga appear to be the hope of the sport. Club rivalry
is a big thing and makes races, but it can also hold the sport back.
What is needed is club co-operation to run big meets with big money and
big crowds.